Paper Cranes
by jadesword
Summary: A sweet little vignette on a rainy day that had a sunset. Some swearing and a lot of fluff. HakkaiGojyo with a bit of SanzouGoku.


notes:  
* * -- emphasis  
/ / -- italics / song lyrics  
  
Paper Cranes -- a Hakkai+Gojyo fic (with a little bit of   
Sanzou+Goku)  
  
He woke up to leaden skies and raindrops trying to knock   
the windows out again.   
  
On the floor beside his bed, Hakuryuu was still curled up   
into a circle of snugly sleeping white dragon, seemingly   
unperturbed by the restlessness around him.  
  
'Well, we're stuck here for another day.'  
  
The thought was his, certainly, just at that moment when   
his brain reluctantly woke up, but someone else looked to be   
sharing it.  
  
From his pocket, Sha Gojyo pulled a fresh box of matches --   
he'd run out of lighter fluid two days ago -- and re-lit his   
current cigarette, which had been snuffed out by a   
particularly frigid breeze. 'This may never end,' he muttered   
around the filter tip, only half to himself. 'Oh, and you're   
awake.'  
  
Cho Hakkai rolled over onto his back and rested one hand   
against his forehead. 'What was it Sanzou mentioned last night   
over dinner? Ah, yes. *Anywhere but here.*'  
  
Silence, and the door swinging shut.  
  
He sat up in bed and looked around the tiny hotel room he   
was sharing with the redhead. The clock on the wall said   
10:00, which unsettled him -- he usually woke at the crack of   
dawn -- but then there was the candle sputtering on the table   
between them, and judging from its smoke, it had been burning   
for quite some time already. And the other bed itself looked   
like it, too, had been tossed into a ferocious whirlwind, with   
its sheets and blankets all awry.   
  
Hakkai knew the rain made his roommate a restless sleeper,   
like him, but he never imagined it was *that* bad.  
  
Said half-breed came clattering back within the hour, laden   
down with so much food Hakkai found himself entertaining the   
thought of having to hunker down in the hotel for another week   
at least, and not without some dread.   
  
There was a large paper sack full of various kinds of snack   
chips, with a selection of pudding cups tucked among the bags;   
two six-packs of beer, one of which was missing half its   
contents; and a week's worth of cigarettes. 'Hey, you had me   
scared last night...all that tossing and turning,' he said,   
dropping his bags on the floor next to his bed. He dragged his   
hand over the sweat around his eyes, and sighed as he popped   
the top on a can.  
  
'The rain makes me have nightmares too,' and the brunette   
helped himself to another beer, plus a pair of pudding cups.  
  
'Sound worse than mine, that's for sure.'  
  
Hakuryuu came awake then, languid-draconian fashion, and   
immediately jumped onto the plastic container his master put   
down beside his nest of blankets.  
  
'I asked around while I was walking in town,' Gojyo said   
after a long drag on his beer. 'And it seems that we're going   
to be here a little longer...the local weather bureau says   
there's a big storm on the way. They say the one that's   
coming's about fixin' to take the town apart. I told Sanzou,   
and he got that little depressed expression of his. You know   
how he is when it rains.'  
  
'What did Goku say?'  
  
'The usual -- whole lotta whining. I left half the chips   
to shut him up.'  
  
Hakkai felt one eyebrow winch upwards. 'This is half? You   
must've had a lot of good games last night.'  
  
The redhead shook a finger at him. 'You're still   
surprised?'  
  
'No, not really.' Placating smile. 'So how about we   
play?'  
  
Thoughtful pause. Big grin. 'You're on.'  
  
Hakuryuu flew out while they were on their eighth round,   
the little 'Kyuu!!' sounds disappearing down the corridor.   
The pudding cup was empty except for a swirl of chocolate   
and butterscotch in the very bottom.  
  
Hakkai shook his head and laid down a full house to   
Gojyo's straight flush. 'I lose.'  
  
'It happens to the best of us.' Gojyo started shuffling   
again.  
*****   
'You're a strange one, Hakkai,' Gojyo muttered some time   
later.   
  
He was met with a polite, curious smile. 'What do you   
mean?'  
  
'You got the biggest hang-up with the rain among us, and   
it only shows when you sleep.'  
  
Hakkai finished his second beer. 'I guess that's so.'  
  
'People worry, you know.'  
  
Before he could answer, they heard another voice: 'Hakkai   
Hakkai Hakkai....!!!'  
  
A golden-eyed tornado of energy suddenly barreled into the   
room, a length of white neat around his neck despite his   
constant movement. 'Hakkai look what I got!'  
  
Gojyo dodged him -- once, twice, three times -- muttering   
under his breath, 'Stupid interrupting hyperactive fuckin'   
genki stomach-brain.'  
  
One hand shot out and then suddenly Son Goku was visible,   
legs working furiously as he ran in place, the tail of his   
T-shirt wound around Hakkai's slender wrist. Hakuryuu   
squealed happily and slithered off one bared shoulder,   
running up the length of his master's outstretched arm to   
stroke his cheek with a wingtip. 'Let's hear it when you   
catch your breath, ne?'  
  
Goku stopped, drew in a double lungful of air, and then   
said all in one breath: 'Sanzou sent me out to buy him some   
supplies and the food store was right next to a toy shop   
and I saw these pretty paper toys in the window and I   
bought a bunch so now you can teach me how you do that   
folding thing of yours!'  
  
Before Hakkai could respond, a voice boomed down the   
corridor. 'BAKAZARU! GET BACK IN HERE!'  
  
Goku faced down two sets of raised eyebrows with   
unconscious style. 'Oops. I think I left some food behind.'  
  
The redhead darted out after him, back to his normal self   
as if it wasn't raining cats and dogs outside, and sniggering   
for all he was worth. 'This I gotta see.'  
  
Hakuryuu and Hakkai exchanged glances, and then the   
converted youkai laughed out loud. 'I'm not planning to wipe   
blood off the walls,' he told his pet.  
  
'Kyuu,' the little white dragon agreed.  
  
The packets of differently-colored paper caught his good   
eye, and he sat down, expression already intent; Hakuryuu   
flew to the door and managed to nudge it shut.  
*****   
No one knew exactly when the sun had decided to put in   
an appearance on an otherwise soaked day, but Goku, Gojyo   
and Sanzou were all found some hours later on the hotel's   
back porch, in varying degrees of relaxation. The monk and   
the redhead were both smoking, the plumes drifting straight   
upwards in the temporarily clear air; the boy was happily   
puddle-jumping in his bare feet.   
  
'I'm not nursing you through your next cold,' Sanzou   
said as Goku came very close to splashing him.  
  
'Hai,' and Goku drew the reply out singsong-style.  
  
'I'm calling Hakkai,' Gojyo said as the first streaks of   
red appeared in the sky, stubbing out his unfiltered.   
  
'I'm here,' came the brunette's voice all of a sudden.   
'Hakuryuu said the sun was setting and that I could see it   
with you.'  
  
'What's that?' the shortest of them asked, hopping out of   
a puddle to point at the multicolored shapes atop a lacquered   
tray.  
  
'Don't put these down in a wet place,' Hakkai admonished   
as he put the tray on the lone table. He held out his hands   
to him, palms up: an elephant in one, a cat and a dog in   
the other. 'I'd have showed you how to make these but you   
didn't return. Well, all the animals are yours; I folded as   
many as I could. Most are flat, so you can tuck them in your   
pockets, but not these three. Oh, and he says take care of   
that one especially,' and he pointed to the white paper   
dragon in Hakuryuu's claws. 'He asked me to make that for   
you.'  
  
Goku's answering smile rivaled the sunset. 'Sankyu   
sankyu! You're so kind, Hakkai,' and he laid them all out   
on a dry length of porch railing, admiring the various   
multicolored shapes. 'They're so pretty!'  
  
'You've got more,' Sanzou drawled out, tossing his   
cigarette butt into the puddle that Goku had come out   
from.  
  
'Hai, I do.' Hakkai picked out a number of   
pastel-colored shapes with wire stems, which he then   
twisted together in a larger paper cone. 'I'm not   
entirely sure if a Sanzou receives gifts or offerings,   
but then that's meant to be a belated birthday gift for   
you. Sorry I missed that.'  
  
Sanzou eyed him askance. 'You were injured. Badly   
enough that we weren't sure you'd make it.'  
  
The monocled man smiled at him. 'And I made you worry.   
So that's something to make up for it too.'  
  
The blonde man nodded a curt 'Thanks,' and then turned   
toward Goku. The others watched as he pulled one flower   
out of the bunch -- a lily -- and placed it next to the   
elephant. The golden eyes lit up, and he looped the wire   
stem around his belt, before going on admiring his paper   
menagerie.  
  
Companionable silence, and then: 'Cranes,' Gojyo said   
suddenly, pointing at the last batch of folded papers. The   
birds came in all colors, mostly in patterned paper. 'A   
thousand-cranes string. You want someone to live -- did   
you make that for yourself?'  
  
Hakkai shrugged up at him. 'Not really. I started after   
hearing someone whistle a familiar tune below my window.'   
He sang, softly:  
  
/Moonlight flows, river to the sea  
Dreaming in faith, deepest sadness  
Calling out on the wind, my solitary voice  
Seeking you, hoping you hear  
Flowers fall, silver beauty in your hair  
Shimmering waves, falling to the grass  
Like memories in my heart, singing to you  
In my sleep, I am not alone./  
  
'That was me -- but I didn't know that tune had words,'   
and Gojyo shook his head. 'I guess it fits. So what's   
with that, and the cranes?'  
  
'It's an old favorite of mine,' Hakkai murmured,   
twisting the end of the string through his fingers. 'In   
the place where I used to live, there was a legend attached   
to that song...that a certain man who lived long ago   
composed it, one night while he stood on a bridge thinking   
about his lover, whom he had not seen for a long time.   
  
'A spirit heard his words and promised to grant him his   
heart's greatest wish. The man wished to see his lover, and   
the spirit's feet touched the bridge and he saw his lover's   
face. And the man wept, for such a love was forbidden by   
the gods, and he knew he would never again see his lover   
after that night.   
  
'But the spirit smiled and said they would never be   
parted, for they were now bound by the song, and it would   
always lead them back to each other. In turn, all the spirit   
wished of the man was for him to go on living, just to go   
on with his life, and so keep the song and their love alive   
within him.  
  
'Since then the people of my hometown have believed that   
a person who sings that man's song will eventually have his   
or her true love revealed to them, just as the spirit was   
revealed to that man.' He held the strung cranes out to the   
redhead. 'And then I thought I'd double the second wish --   
so I made the cranes.'  
  
As Gojyo took the cranes from him, running them through   
his hands, lightning flashed in the dusk sky, followed   
quickly by a loud clap of thunder. He let the noise die   
away before addressing Hakkai with typical directness: 'You   
want me to live?'  
  
The brunette nodded.   
  
'With you?'  
  
'Maybe.' Hakkai kept his eyes on *his* hands, which were   
on the tray. 'Only if you want to.'  
  
'I'll think about it.' Silence for a few moments.  
  
And then Gojyo snapped the string, right at the half-way   
mark. 'Well, I'm done thinking, and I want you to live, too.   
With me,' he added quietly, holding out five hundred paper   
cranes to Hakkai, 'so you'd better have these. Yanno -- my   
tune, your words, and a thousand cranes between us. So we   
both stay alive. Sound okay to you?'  
  
'Aa. Thank you, Gojyo.'  
  
'Talk to you about it later,' and the redhead lit up   
again.  
  
'Tonight, while it's raining,' Hakkai replied, looking   
up as the first raindrops started to fall.  
  
The only response he got was a muted hum around the   
cigarette, the same tune he'd just sung and explained.  
  
The brunette smiled and went to stand next to Gojyo, and   
they watched the rain together.  
  
~owari 


End file.
